PHILADELPHIA — Tony Wroten was told minutes before tipoff that he’d be starting for the 76ers. He played like a guy who had all afternoon to prepare for the first start of his NBA career.

Then he passed the baton to James Anderson.

Anderson knocked down a game-tying, off-balance 3-pointer, off a pass from Wroten in an attempt to save the ball bound for the first row, with 6.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Spencer Hawes’ putback dunk on an Evan Turner miss with 29.8 seconds to go in overtime gave the Sixers the lead for good and sent Houston packing, 123-117, Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

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Wroten, who corralled a rebound in overtime to lock up his first career triple-double, ended up with 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Anderson was equally on fire, totaling a career-best 36 points on 12-for-16 shooting, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range.

The first-place Sixers (5-4) snapped a two-game skid just in time for a three-game roadtrip that begins Friday in Atlanta.

Jeremy Lin, who went scoreless in the fourth quarter, did his best to rescue the Rockets in overtime after blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Lin knocked down a 3-pointer that temporarily put Houston in front with 1:30 to go in overtime.

It didn’t last, as Thaddeus Young hit a pair of free throws and Hawes made a dunk out of Turner’s miss to seal it. Turner and Young later tacked on six total free throws to make it official.

Houston’s Chandler Parsons had a heave at the end of regulation to win it for the Rockets, though his shot qualifies as one of the more off-kilter looks at a game-winner you’ll ever see.

Wroten turned in the kind of numbers that are reminiscent of the player he replaced in the starting lineup. Michael Carter-Williams was a late scratch due to the same left foot arch bruise that kept him from practice a day earlier. The rookie point guard is considered day to day.

Without Carter-Williams, the Sixers had to look elsewhere for scoring, pace, ball movement and rhythm. They looked to sixth man Wroten, who got the nod in Carter-Williams’ place in the starting five. And Wroten didn’t miss a beat.

Neither did Anderson, who was untouchable from the floor. He knocked down a 3-pointer a few ticks shy of the 2:30 mark, Young found the bottom of the bucket on a turnaround hook and the Sixers clawed to within one point, at 102-101, with 120 seconds to go. That was their first lead in the fourth quarter, and erased Houston’s 10-point lead in the quarter.

Anderson emerged as a legitimate option for the Sixers at shooting guard, and it only took nine games to do so. The fourth-year man lit up his former team, including six straight makes to open the game.

For as good as Anderson was, Lin matched him shot for shot.

The Rockets guard, who started in place of late scratch James Harden, could not be contained from long range, a weakness for the Sixers this season. Lin went 10-for-19 overall and 9-for-15 from 3-point range, establishing a career mark for made 3s, and totaling 34 points in the process.

Like the Sixers, who were missing Carter-Williams, Houston (5-4) was down a man, too.

Hot-scoring James Harden sat out with a bruised right foot. That didn’t prevent the Rockets from taking off in the first quarter, particularly from behind the 3-point line. The Rockets made three of their first four long-range looks, Lin had eight of their first 10 points and Houston took a 31-28 lead after one quarter.

The Sixers took a lead into the break thanks to a lead Darius Morris gave them only a few possessions into the second quarter. The backup point guard — on this night, at least — scored on a layup then knocked down a 3-pointer on successive trips to put the Rockets behind, 36-31, for the first time in the game.